University of Texas Austin - Cactus Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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J. W. CALHOUN PRESIDENT J. W. CALHOUN TO THE STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS: It is a commonplace to call your attention to the fact that you are most fortunate in being citizens of the United States of America in the year 1939. Few people on this distracted earth are so lucky. If you lived in the parts of the world where most white people live, where those nearest to you by blood and culture dwell, you would not even have the privilege of choosing whether you would go to college. Your parents would not be free to decide whether they would send you. That would be decided by the state and usually would depend on the social stratum in which your birth had placed you. It is no merit of yours that you were born in Texas instead of Europe. That piece of good fortune just came to your providentially. But since you are in Texas and at The University of Texas, you can show that you appreciate the country of your birth and can justify your presence in this institution by preparing for useful citizenship and admirable living. It sounds like bombast to say that we live in the greatest country on earth, but it is the simple truth. The Country, the State, The University of Texas are all your good fortune. Remember this when there is a temptation to speak slightingly of your country, your State, your school. Think of the hundreds of thousands who have no country, no state, no school and of the millions of others who, having them, have still no liberty. Very sincerely yours, President Pace 27

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W. LEE fniANTEL To the 1989 Cactus: By representing the lives, the hopes, and plans of nearly eleven thousand students, 1939 Cactus symbolizes Texas of the future. This Cactus, which portrays so vividly the life of University men and women, reveals a living picture of the Texas that will be. It is a State possessing resourcefulness, courage, and, above al ambition. Your great University will breed the ambition, courage, and resourcefulness that will be so essen- tial in building a Greater Texas. It is within your power to fashion out of this vast domain of natural wealth an agricultural and industrial State un- rivalled in all the world. That is your heritage; it has come from those who carved our civilization from a bleak wilderness. They have given you the courage to carry the Torch higher. Your University has fortified you with Knowledge and Wisdom. ' hen the future of Texas is placed in the hands of University men and women, Texans need not fear its fulfillment. Sincerely, Uji lW M. ..t Governor

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President-Elect HOMER P. RAINEY !■ DR. HOMER PRICE RAINEY, President-Elect of The Univers ity of Texas Dr. Homer Price Rainey, director of the American Youth Commission, has been appointed President of The University of Texas by the Board of Regents. He will take office on June 1. J. W. Calhoun has been serving as President Ad Interim since the death of President H. Y. Benedict on May 10, 1937. Dr. Rainey is a native Texan and is a graduate of Austin College at Sherman. He took graduate work at the University of Chicago. He has been a member of the faculties of the University of Chicago, the University of Minnesota, the University of Oregon, and was for a summer term a member of The University of Texas faculty. Prior to his appointment as director of the American Youth Commission in 1935, Dr. Rainey was for four years president of Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsyl- vania. The American Youth Commission is a non-govern- mental agency working under the supervision of the American Council on Education. As director of the Com- mission, Dr. Rainey has conducted extensive research programs on the problems of youth. t 4 - ' x rwr %9yfi m